Review by Choice Review
Earthquakes are alive and well, and always have been, especially in California. Dvorak, a journalist, academic, and former member of the US Geological Survey, provides an eminently readable, highly insightful, seamlessly organized, historical account of earthquakes mainly associated with the San Andreas fault--the most famous fault in the world. The book begins with an account of the frightening experiences of a swimmer at a San Francisco beach in 1906 when an earthquake occurred and continues with accounts to this day of human reactions/responses by scientists, politicians, engineers, developers, and historians. Many people were made famous by the San Francisco earthquake, and their contributions to the modern understanding of seismic events resonate worldwide. The author explains other earthquakes, including Owens Valley, Long Beach, Northridge, San Fernando, Loma Prieta, and Landers, in the context of the theory of plate tectonics, which was discovered and supported by observations of the San Andreas fault. The sagas of disagreements and evidence gathering by geologists and seismologists are fascinating and instructive. The lessons learned indicate that earthquake prediction is still in the far future. However, the experts in southern California believe that the southern section of the San Andreas fault zone "is locked and loaded and ready to rumble." Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. T. L. T. Grose emeritus, Colorado School of Mines
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Most of us have heard of the San Andreas Fault, but we don't know much about it, beyond the fact that it's a big fault line in California. Author Dvorak capably fills in the blanks. Plate tectonics gave us the fault, the North American plate rubbing up against the Pacific basin plate and causing a fracture in the planet's surface from one end of California to the other. And here's the really troubling thing: California, known for its sometimes very severe quakes, hasn't experienced one like the San Francisco quake in 1906 for about a century. The state, Dvorak warns, is overdue for something called an earthquake storm a series of quakes, triggered by a single massive event, spreading out over a large geographic area and playing out over several years. This is a relatively new seismological theory about earthquakes, and how much readers accept about Dvorak's book depends on their willingness to accept a theory that is still in the early stages of development. Still, this is a fascinating look at what could be in store for the country if proponents of the theory are correct.--Pitt, David Copyright 2014 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Dvorak, formerly of the U.S. Geological Survey, treats Californians and other tectonics enthusiasts to an enjoyable history of the Golden State's earthquakes alongside a bracing look at potential future ones. Dates, locations, magnitudes, and damage figures are all embedded in these stories of quakes and in the stories of those who studied them, like Andrew Lawson, the University of California geology professor who named the San Andreas Fault in 1895, and Charles Richter, developer of the eponymous magnitude scale. Dvorak describes the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and resultant fire via the daring rescue of nearly 1,500 botanical samples and he carefully details where readers may see physical evidence of earthquakes, for instance "a three-foot-high step" between an L.A. fast-food restaurant and its parking lot caused by the 1971 quake. Dvorak has both good news and bad news for Californians: "a major earthquake along the San Andreas Fault will not cause California to fall into the ocean," but a 2008 report from the Working Group on California Earthquake Probabilities has given a 59% chance that a magnitude 6.7 or greater quake will strike the southern segment of the San Andreas Fault within 30 years. Photos. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Dvorak (formerly, U.S. Geological Survey) combines historical and scientific narrative to tell the story of California's San Andreas Fault, which exists at the boundary between the Pacific and North American tectonic plates. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake, which occurred along the fault and left a 270-mile-long visible fault rupture, accelerated the study of seismology in California. The author recounts the work of prominent 20th-century geologists, including Charles Whitney and Andrew Lawson. Geologists have learned that sections of the fault behave differently, with one portion creeping slowly while other portions are locked in position, thus accumulating stress that is released as earthquakes. Eventually such a release will result in a major earthquake. Dvorak posits that the last 100 years in California have been relatively quiet seismologically, but he notes other major fault systems, such as in Turkey, that were quiet for a period and then released their accumulated stress in a series of major earthquakes-a seismic storm. These storms can last for decades or centuries until the stress is released; the San Andreas Fault may be ripe for such a series. VERDICT A must read for earthquake buffs-and West Coast residents.-Jeffrey Beall, Univ. of Colorado, Denver, Lib. (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A thoroughly rewarding explanation of earthquakes built around the famous San Andreas fault, which runs the length of California. Science writer Dvorak emphasizes that it was barely 50 years ago when scientists agreed that earthquakes were not the result of exploding underground gases, volcanism or a wrinkling of the Earth's surface as it slowly cooled. Much of their enlightenment occurred in California, and the author turns up half a dozen intrepid, eccentric and largely unknown geologists (Grove Gilbert, Andrew Lawson, Charles Richter, Harry Fielding Reid) whose insights began to converge after the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake. In the massive studies that followed, scientists could not fail to notice the long San Andreas fault, a crack in the Earth's surface soon found to extend the entire length of the state. No one doubted that movement along this fault had occurred during the quake since roads, pipes, rails and fences that crossed the line had shifted as much as 20 feet and always in the same direction. This was considered an effect, not a cause of the quake, and the few perceptive observers who disagreed were dismissed. It's a rule of science that facts mean little in the absence of a good theory to explain them. This finally arrived in the 1960s with plate tectonics, which asserted that vast, floating segments of the Earth's crust are creeping horizontally past each other. One segment often sticks fast against its neighbor; pressure builds over decades until it breaks loose, producing one or a series of quakes. "[T]he San Andreas Fault and its many subsidiary faults are slowly tearing California apart," writes the author, "so that much of what is California today will be transformed into a collection of islands that are destined to be rafted northward across the Pacific." Although almost entirely focused on California, this is a fine popular primer on the subject, lucidly written and no more technical than necessary.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
